With the Time We Are Given
by knowlee
Summary: Lysithea and Cyril have had their fair share of troubles and have dealt with them in their own ways, but as they spend more time together, they find that although they have forged their own paths, they want theirs to intersect so that they can find happiness together. #Cysithea Week 2020
1. Fairy Tales

**knowlee-** This is something I was doing for Cysithea Week and I had posted it originally on Ao3 and although I have yet to finish it (it's gonna be late unfortunately since life happened, but I am gonna finish it, darnit!) I decided to post what I've done so far on here and as I get through the next chapters I'm going to do the same.

I hope you enjoy this little story! It's something different than the Claude/Byleth stories I've been posting lately (although they more than likely will still appear in here, but as a background pairing), but I felt like doing something for this pairing of Cyril/Lysithea since they're my second favorite pairing in the game.

* * *

**A Fire Emblem Three Houses Fanfiction**

With the Time We Are Given

_Chapter 1: Fairy Tales_

By: Knowlee Raven

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Lysithea never believed in fairy tales.

Sure, she had read some of them when she as a young child, but as she got older and dealt with the trauma of being experimented on and losing her siblings in the process along with the huge blow that her life span had been dramatically shortened, she fell out of wanting to read them.

Instead, the books she turned to were the complete opposite of fantasy and instead dealt with the realness of the world and gave knowledge on how to survive in it. And she would definitely need all of those skills to live as long as she could in this world before the effects of the experimentations done on her caught up.

That was why during every waking moment she had during her time in the Academy at Garreg Mach, she spent it studying, pouring over every line of writing she could find and remembering it with great intensity. There were even times that she did this so much, that her fellow classmates and professor worried over her health and had to practically bribe or force her to stop and rest for a while.

Sometimes it would work and sometimes it wouldn't.

But now, with the war going on, she didn't have as much time to study like she wanted. It bothered her greatly, especially since she knew that whatever little time she had she needed to use to try and find a way to remove what had been done to her before it was too late.

But she did find a few moments to spare in between battles and for that she was grateful.

It was during one of those spare moments that Lysithea found herself headed towards the library, one of her favorite places in the monastery to find a book to study until the moment came where she was needed someplace else.

When she entered the room, she was surprised to see that it was already occupied by someone else. At first glance, she thought it was Claude since the person's hair was the same shade as his, but once she got further in, she realized who it was.

"Cyril?"

The man in question turned at the sound of his name being called. When he saw who it was that had spoken, a smile formed on his face. "Lysithea? What are ya doin here?"

Her mouth followed his example and smiled to match his. She walked over towards him. "I came here to find something to read. I can't neglect learning just because there's a war going on."

Cyril nodded, smile still on his face. "Of course not. It's always good to learn stuff, especially if it's useful."

Lysithea nodded in agreement. "I agree. So now, I turn the question back to you, why are you in the library? From what it looks like, it would appear that you're trying to find something to read. Am I right?"

During her days at the Academy, after she had discovered that Cyril couldn't read, she had taken it upon herself to teach him. It certainly took some time, but luckily Cyril was like her when it came to learning (well, not _exactly _like her) and picked up on the skill rather quickly.

Cyril brought his hand up to his head to sheepishly scratch at it. "Like always, ya hit the nail on the head, Lysithea." He lowered his hand back down to wave lazily at the books. "I wanted to find something to read to practice some more, but since I'm no good at this yet, I don't know what to look for…"

She smiled. Her original focus of finding something to read for herself disappeared from her mind. Helping Cyril was far more important. "Well, it's a good thing for you that I showed up when I did. I'll help you find something."

He shook his head. "Ya don't have to, Lysithea. I-"

She stopped him before he could continue. "Cyril, I insist. Let me help you."

It took a few seconds, but he eventually gave in. For some strange reason, lately she noticed that he was more then willing to let her get her way and that he wasnt denying her as much as he used to when they first met. At first she chalked it up to him just being friendly, but she had an inkling that there was something else going on to make him be that way. She couldn't quite put her finger on what it was though.

After the two gave the shelves a good search, Lysithea eventually found a book on old Fodlan fairy tales hidden behind some other books in a section of the library that didn't match up to its genre.

Hmm… perhaps she should talk to the new librarian to remind them to properly organize the books instead of just throwing them around. At least with Tomas (although he was ultimately revealed to be one of those who experimented on her), it was well taken care of.

But, oh well, nothing could be done about it now. She would just make sure to put it back in the right spot when they were done.

Cyril followed Lysithea over to one of the nearby tables and the two each took a seat next to the other and laid out the book before them so that they could easily see the words.

Lysithea could feel a touch of nostalgia overwhelm her a bit as she helped him go over the words and ensure that he was pronouncing them properly. It reminded her of the happy days she had with her siblings and her parents before the horrible incident took place that destroyed it.

She wouldn't lie and say that those memories didn't hurt her, because they did, but it was a good hurt and only served to make her more determined to take down the Empire who had apparently made the choice to join forces with those monsters.

She would make sure they regretted that decision.

"Lysithea?"

Pulled out of her reverie, she looked over to the boy next to her to see concern etched on his face. Did he catch on to her melancholy? Or was there something on her face that caught his attention?

Apparently it was the latter, because shortly after she turned towards him, he hesitantly brought his hand up to her face to gently wiped away a tear that had fallen from her eye during her recollection. "Why are you crying?"

Lysithea breathed in slowly to calm her nerves and glanced down at the book they had been reading. "Its nothing…"

The incredulous expression on his face told her that he didn't believe her. She sighed. He was too perceptive for his own good sometimes. "It's just that… hearing these stories again reminds me of the times when I would read these as a child and would imagine myself as a character in these stories. Of course things aren't all as lovely and sweet as these stories make it out to be." She sighed again. "That's something I learned the hard way unfortunately."

Although she had never told him about her dark past and the reason behind why she was so determined to learn everything so fast, nor was he there when she revealed what happened to her to Claude and Byleth, but she had a feeling he had an idea. He definitely was good at reading between the lines.

It was because of that skill, that she was certain he knew something horrible had happened in her past. And, Goddess bless him, she was grateful he never pushed her on it.

"Well, the dark times are in the past, so there's no use in dwelling on it in my opinion. But… I get that sometimes its not that simple for everyone. But I do know that it helps remembering the good times every once in a while." He had a faraway look in his eyes as he spoke, like he was remembering something from his own childhood.

A smirk formed on her face. "That's true. But, I can say that there's something from these stories that I'm glad that I don't follow today."

Cyril brought himself back to attention. "Oh? What's that?"

His gaze followed her finger as she pointed to a picture that was shown on the page they had reading before they started their conversation. "Well, for one thing, I certainly am not going to let myself be a damsel in distress. I definitely don't need a knight in shining armor to protect me all the time. I can take care of things on my own."

After studying the drawing a few more moments, Cyril looked back up at her. "It's true ya don't need a knight to save ya, but…"

Lysithea was surprised to see a blush appear on his face after he trailed off. She was even more surprised when she started to blush at the words he spoke next. "I wouldn't mind helping ya out though if you needed it. Especially on the battlefield. Everyone's gotta have help sometimes, even you, Lysithea."

Her blush remained on her face. "Thanks, Cyril."

The two returned to the book continued to read through it for a few hours more until they had to stop and go to the dining hall to eat.

And although Lysithea knew she definitely didn't _need_ a knight, she found that she certainly wanted Cyril to be hers.


	2. Flowers

**knowlee- ** Here's chapter 2! Originally I was going to post this on the second day of the Cysithea week, but as I mentioned before life happened. Not sure when the other 5 chapters are gonna come out but hopefully within the next few weeks since I plan on getting this finished so that I can work on the next chapter of _'Like It Was Fate'._

Hope you guys enjoy this little chapter! Until the next one!

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**A Fire Emblem Three Houses Fanfiction**

With the Time We Are Given

_Chapter 2: Flowers_

By: Knowlee Raven

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Cyril had a problem.

It wasn't a life threatening problem, but it still was something that was going to bother him until he got it just right.

What was the problem in question?

He glared down at the flowers that lay arranged by type in the monastery's greenhouse. He had been searching for some time to try and find the perfect ones to use for a gift he was making, but he couldn't decide on which ones he needed.

What was Lysithea's favorite?

Sure, he probably could've just asked her and saved him some time from having to search, but he wanted it to be a surprise. Along with that, he wanted to make sure he got the best ones. She deserved the best in return for helping him with his new reading and writing abilities.

In the back of his mind though, he knew she deserved much more than just flowers, but it was all he could think of at the moment to give her. Plus with the war going on, things were hard to come by, so that left his choices down to a few. And he had heard that she liked flowers, so he knew she would enjoy them.

But that still left the problem of which ones to give her.

He groaned. Maybe he should just go head and ask her or maybe ask one of her old classmates if they knew. If he did that though, he had a feeling they would just tease him about his question. His face grew warm at the thought.

He wasn't sure why he felt so strangely in Lysithea's presence ever since they reunited at the monastery, but he supposed it was just due to him being glad at seeing her alive after growing close to her when they were younger. Although, there were other things he felt when she was around that he knew he couldn't simply chalk up to just been happy at just seeing her.

Some of those new feelings consisted of being nervous when she was near, feeling unbearably warm whenever she spoke or did something cute, and, among all the other ones, having his heart do weird things whenever she smiled in his direction.

He wanted to ask someone about these things, but with every thing else going on, he didn't want to bother them. There were much bigger things to be worried about other than why he was feeling funny around a girl.

Still, he was curious.

Cyril turned his attention back towards the flowers. He needed to focus and make a decision as soon as he could. He had chores that needed to be done as soon as possible and although he wanted Lysithea to have the best flowers he could find, he also knew Seteth wouldn't be pleased if he took too long to make a decision.

He grumbled in irritation as he continued to judge the plants before him. He was so focused in his choice, that he didn't even notice another person standing behind him until they spoke. After his initial shock, Cyril found himself thanking the Goddess that he didn't have his axe on him otherwise he probably would've just killed his former professor because of how spooked he got at hearing her voice.

"Don't sneak up on me like that, professor! Ya gave me a real bad scare there!" He lowered his hands out of a fighting stance as the fear slowly left his body.

Byleth frowned. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you, Cyril. I was coming to check on some seeds I planted when I noticed that you seemed to be lost in though. What's on your mind?"

Cyril hesitated for a moment. He didn't know why, but he felt embarrassed to even say why he was out here in the first place and his first fear was that she'd make fun of him. Still, he knew, based on their previous interactions, that the professor was someone he could trust. She wouldn't tease or make fun of him like he was sure the others probably would.

"Well..." He looked over at the flowerbed they were standing next to and breathed out slowly. Might as well get it over with. "I'm trying to find some flowers to give to Lysithea as a thank you for helping me out with, um, something."

He hesitated for a moment on whether or not to mention to her about his reading skills, but decided last second to just leave it out. That information wasn't something she needed to know anyway. "The problem is, I'm not sure which ones to get for her."

Byleth hummed in thought and turned her attention to the flowers. "I see." Her eyes moved to look back at him. "Have you asked her?"

"I want it to be a surprise."

"Ah, I understand." She went quiet for a few moments making Cyril wonder what she was thinking about. "How about I ask her for you?"

He felt grateful for the suggestion, but at the same time, he didn't want the professor to waste their time doing that for him. Surely, she had better things to do. They were in the middle of a war after all. "You don't have to do that, professor. It's not that big of a deal anyway. I can figure it out later when I get done with my chores. Excuse me, professor."

With that said, Cyril started to move around her to begin his walk towards the monastery. However, Byleth stopped him before he got too far. "It's no problem at all, Cyril. I'm planning on having tea with her later, so I could just casually bring it up when I'm talking to her and figure it out for you. I can let you know her answer later on today."

Although Cyril knew the professor as well as he did, he still found himself surprised to hear her offer to help him. "Are ya sure? I mean, ya don't have to..."

"As I said before, Cyril, it's no problem at all." The smile on her face put his guilty feeling of asking for her help at ease.

He smiled in return, grateful for her offer. "Thanks, professor. I owe ya one."

* * *

Cyril had just finished up wiping down the windows in the second floor hallway, when he heard the tell tale sounds of boots hitting the floor behind him. As he turned to look in the direction the sound was coming from, he saw Byleth heading his way.

He dropped the rag he had been using into the bucket of water next to his feet and stood back up, bucket handle in hand, to meet her halfway. "Hello, professor!"

She smiled and stopped in front of him. "I just got finished having tea with Lysithea. When I brought up the subject of flowers, she mentioned that lilies were her favorite." She tilted her head briefly in the general direction of where they last had their conversation as she spoke, "I know there's some back at the greenhouse since I had the gardener plant some for me some time back. When you see her there, tell her I said you could have some. And I'm even sure she can help you arrange them in a way that would catch her eye."

The happiness he felt in his chest nearly overwhelmed him. He grinned widely. "Thanks, professor! I'm gonna head over there right now."

After bidding her goodbye, he started making his way towards the building. In his eagerness to get there, he tried his best to not slosh the water that was in the bucket too much, otherwise he'd have another mess to clean up.

* * *

Lysithea entered her room to start getting ready for bed. Another battle was nearing soon and she needed to rest before they headed out. She definitely didn't need to be falling asleep in the middle of it. Surely that wouldn't bode well.

As she moved to her chest of drawers and started pulling out the clothes she would need to wear to bed, a batch of white appeared in the corner of her eye. When she turned to see what it was, she was surprised to see a bouquet of white lilies, her favorite flower, beautifully arranged in a purple vase.

Discarding her previous task, she made her way over to the flowers and noticed as she got closer, there was a piece of folded up paper leaning against the vase. Her name was written on the front in a familiar scrawl of handwriting that she knew could only belong to one person.

Her face flushed at the message the letter itself could contain. The bouquet of flowers definitely didn't help with keeping her from reading too much into their potential implication.

Ignoring her beating heart, Lysithea began unfolding the parchment to read its contents. She smiled at the simple words written on the page. _'Thanks you for helping me to read and write. -Cyril'_

A grin broke out on her face as her fingers traced the words he had written. The blush on her face still hadn't left. She turned her gaze back onto the flowers and pulled one out to bring it to her nose. Her smile grew at the sweet scent. He certainly was too sweet for his own good. She'd have to find a way to repay him for the lovely gift.

_'You're welcome, Cyril.'_


End file.
